Professor and Dean Emeritus Robert K. Walsh, the national President of the American Inns of Court, will represent the organization at ceremonies starting in Westminster Abby on Oct. 1. The ceremonies are to celebrate the initiation of the British Legal Year and the establishment of the first Supreme Court in the history of the United Kingdom. For centuries, the highest court of the United Kingdom was the House of Lords. For the past century, a committee of Law Lords has functioned as the country’s highest court and all judges have been appointed by a member of the prime minister’s cabinet. Beginning Oct. 1, the current 12 Law Lords will become Justices of the new Supreme Court and move out of the House of Lords section of Parliament to a new separate Supreme Court building. The head of the new Supreme Court will be the President, currently the Senior Law Lord, Lord Nicholas Phillips.

In addition to representing the American Inns at these ceremonies, Professor Walsh will take the four 2009 American Inns of Court Temple Bar Scholars to London to introduce them to the leaders of the English bench and bar. The four scholars are selected from a large pool of highly qualified law clerks who apply for the program. This year three of the four scholars clerked for the United States Supreme Court. The Temple Bar Scholars Program was created in 1991 by former Chief Justice Warren Burger and the late Lord Denning, former Master of the Rolls for England and Wales. It is one of the exchange programs between the American Inns of Court and the English Inns to strengthen ties between leading members of the English and American Bars.

The American Inns of Court has more than 350 local chapters across the United States consisting of more than 27,000 active members and more than 80,000 alumni members. The American Inns of Court will celebrate its 30th anniversary next year. Professor Walsh is only the second non-judge president of the American Inns of Court.